From "Wikipedia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_house, Origin of the name of this type of home, said to be from New Orleans but found all over in the South. "Shotgun houses consist of three to five rooms in a row with no hallways. The term "shotgun house", which was in use by 1903 but became more common after about 1940, is often said to come from the saying that one could fire a shotgun through the front door and the pellets would fly cleanly through the house and out the back door (since all the doors are on the same side of the house). "